SICILY, ITALY—IMPRESSIONS

SAN MICHELE WINERY, SICILY

∙ WHAT WE DID/SAW/EXPERIENCED
          ∙ Time in port: 10 hours
          ∙ We arrived early, at about 9:30 a.m., due to port wrangling beyond my pay grade.  Pat and I headed out for a walk around town, since the boys didn’t want to go and our tours didn’t start until the afternoon.  After a while, we stopped for pizza and a beer at a cool outdoor restaurant in a plaza full of people – and a clock tower whose figurines move at the stroke of noon.  Italian music set the scene . . . along with some friendly local pigeons.  And the pizza was grrr-rrr-ate (tangy, tasty sauce, gobs of melted cheese, yummy toppings – oh, yeah)!
          ∙ On our tour, Bill and I took a scenic drive to San Michele Estate - a winery in the Etna region, at the base of Mount Etna.  We traveled over bridges and through tunnels, the hillsides where “The Godfather” was shot, and Taormina.  We sat back and soaked in the oh-so Italian ambiance of Sicily!  (“Take the cannoli.  Leave the gun!”)
          ∙ We stopped to see remnants of the 1992 lava flows of Mt. Edna and brought a piece of it home (with permission)!
          ∙ We had only an hour to tour the winery and taste the wine.  All that driving . . . and one hour?  Really?
          ∙ We tried having dinner out before the ship left at 7:30 p.m., but most places were closed until 7 or 8 p.m.!  All we could find open was a not-so-great café with “icky” food (pre-prepared, overcooked lasagna, with hardly any meat -- heated it in a microwave no less).  I put it where it belonged:  the trash.  Bill’s dinner was equally bad, but he’ll eat anything.  We should have ordered pizza!

∙ THOUGHTS/IMPRESSIONS
          ∙ I loved the morning with Pat, taking in the sights and scenery around Messina and eating that great pizza.
          ∙ The wine tasting was better than yesterday, but only “okay”.  When I go wine tastings at home, we’ll pack a bunch of friends into a car, drive around from winery to winery and spend an afternoon drinking the various wines.  I’m not crazy about these “quickie” wine tasting tours.  Yet, everyone did love the “brut extra” champagne – so I had to buy a bottle (for Bill’s upcoming birthday).
          ∙ The day’s highlights included lunch in the square and listening to (and seeing) Mt. Etna’s grumblings.

MESSINA

COUNTRYSIDE

LAVA FLOW

WINERY

MT. ETNA